Angola INDEPENDENCE AND THE RISE OF THE MPLA GOVERNMENT
After independence, an MPLA soldier stands on an armored
vehicle in front of a Portuguese statue that has been deliberately
covered with a cloth.
Courtesy United Nations (J.P. Laffont)
Unlike Portugal's other African possessions, which had
made
relatively peaceful transitions to independence months
earlier, by
November 11, 1975, Angola was in chaos. In the absence of
a central
government to which Portuguese officials could relinquish
control,
Portugal refused to recognize any faction; instead, it
ceded
independence to the people of Angola. The MPLA
subsequently
announced the establishment of its government in Luanda
and called
the territory it controlled the People's Republic of
Angola.
The FNLA and UNITA announced a separate regime with
headquarters in the southern city of Huambo and called
their
territory the Democratic People's Republic of Angola. But
because
of continuing hostility between them, the FNLA and UNITA
did not
set up a government until December 1975, nor did they
attempt to
fuse their armies. Moreover, the FNLA-UNITA alliance
received no
formal recognition from other states, mostly because of
its South
African support. In general, the international community,
particularly other African states, viewed South African
involvement
in favor of the FNLA and UNITA as a legitimization of
Soviet and
Cuban support for the MPLA.
By January 1976, with the support of some 10,000 to
12,000
Cuban troops and Soviet arms worth US$200 million, it was
clear
that the MPLA had emerged as the dominant military power.
By
February 1976, the FNLA and its mercenaries had been
defeated in
northern Angola; under international pressure, South
African troops
had withdrawn into Namibia; and the MPLA was in control in
Cabinda.
Furthermore, United States assistance to the FNLA and
UNITA ceased
following the passage by the United States Senate of the
Clark
Amendment, which prohibited all direct and indirect
military or
paramilitary assistance to any Angolan group. The OAU
finally
recognized the MPLA regime as Angola's official
government, as did
the UN and Portugal and more than eighty other nations.
Data as of February 1989
|